


Wait It Out

by Batdad (MizGoat)



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Illness, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 02:38:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12224034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizGoat/pseuds/Batdad
Summary: There's a virus sweeping through the ranks of the 501st, and Kix is hard pressed to keep up with the drastic increase in his workload.





	Wait It Out

“The disease isn’t fatal,” Kix reassured the shiny peering balefully at him over the bedpan hastily repurposed as a vomit catcher. It felt like the hundredth time he’d said it and his throat was starting to feel raw. Thankfully that was definitely not on the list of symptoms of the virus ripping through the 501ˢᵗ.

  
“Get plenty of rest, as much fluids as you can keep down, and in about two days you should be feeling fine.”

It was a mundane enough disease. Run of the mill fever, vomiting, and in some of the more unfortunate cases also diarrhea. The only remarkable feature was how fast it spread. Combine that with men living in cramped quarters and medical had been overwhelmed fast. Kix of been running on naps and caf for 2 days now. Their stock of antiviral medications was too low to waste on something that could be dealt with by just waiting it out, so the medics simply had to cope with a steadily increasing stream of miserably sick soldiers.

Trying to maintain a quarantine had been the first priority. Yesterday he’d had to shake a flushed and warm to the touch Rex out of his bunk and demand he com the General to keep the Jedi out of the men’s quarters until the worst of past.

“Sir, Kix says you can’t come visit us,” Rex mumbled blearily into the com.

“What? Why?” came back the sharp response from the General.

“Maybe he’s mad at you?”

Kix had to take the com away at that point and explain that it was a quarantine and not a social problem. Anyone sleeping in the barracks was a lost cause, but at least he could try and keep the Jedi out of it. They were vulnerable enough with the sick men they already had.

“Should blow over in a few days. Nothing to do but wait it out.” It took all of Kix’s training to sound calm while his thoughts were occupied with frantically working out the logistics of filtering so many through medical.

He managed to keep Rex focused enough to sign off on requisitioning as many of the cleaning droids as he could to combat the rapidly deteriorating conditions in the refresher before roughly pushing him back into bed and leaving him with a bottle of water and instructions to drink as much as he could keep down.

After that it was mostly autopilot. Keep everyone calm. Make sure no one was too dehydrated. Ration out the limited supply of anti-nausea medications to the worst cases. Pray that they didn’t get attacked while so few men were fighting fit. Wait it out.

By the fourth day he was finally starting to clear more cases than new ones came in. It was also when his fourth caf of the morning came right back up in a hot acidic wash that burned the insides of his mouth and nose and made his eyes water. He had managed to make it over to a sink, and he stayed there a moment leaning heavily on the counter to make certain that the last wave of nausea has passed. Standing up made him light headed but it also brought two firm hands on his shoulders to steady him.

“Looks like it’s your turn now,” Jesse’s voice was warm and reassuring. The virus had already more or less run it’s course for him, and Kix noticed with satisfaction that the color was back in his cheeks.

“Get plenty of rest, as much fluids as you can keep down, and in about two days you should be feeling fine,” Echo repeated back Kix’s mantra of the past few days.

Fives pushed a paper cup of water into his hands and he sipped tentatively. He desperately wanted to wash away the taste of the vomit, but his stomach was still lurching uncertainly. Belatedly he realized he was being steered to bed and started to protest.

“None of that. The galaxy will spin without you pushing it. Rest.” Jessie punctuated the point by guiding Kix down to the mattress.

“Well, you know where I’ll be if you need me,” was his final protest. One last concession to the duty that had had him running ragged, before drifting off to sleep. Nothing left to do now but wait it out.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for [Finish the Clone Wars](http://finish-the-clone-wars.tumblr.com/) writing Wednesday prompt "Virus" over on tumblr. Original post is [here](http://batdad.tumblr.com/post/165560927678/wait-it-out).


End file.
